Life is not fair.

Rana spars with the ranger

Rana took the chance to escape the ciad-fhir, following her mother just long enough to hug her before taking off for Marcus’ shack.  After sprinting to the other side of the mansion, she stopped and bent over, placing her hands on her knees and heaving a deep breath.  I can’t believe how powerful those two were.  Could Maighstir Rhyslin beat them in a one-on-one fight? 

When she was finally able to breathe, she found a piece of ground devoid of life and brushed the fallen leaves away.  Dropping to one knee, she traced a sigil on the ground and closed her eyes.  Rhyslin had told her how to use a portal.  All he had to do was imagine a spot on the map in Rhylin’s office.  As she had never been to Marcus’ shack, she had to get the spot on the map as close to perfect as she could.  When she felt she was ready, she pricked her finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the Sigil. 

For a long moment, nothing happened, but it only took another minute for the Sigil to activate and form a silvery sphere that opened up to reveal a single black willow tree standing on a hilltop. 

Here we go. Rana gathered her courage and sprinted through the sphere, leaping out the other side and running to the tree.  She turned just as the portal vanished, leaving her alone on the hilltop.  She put her back to the tree, turning until she could see a small hunting shack set just inside a copse of trees. 

“This must be the place,” Rana whispered to herself.  “If I’m in the wrong place, Maighstir Rhyslin can open a gate for me.”  Her hazel eyes searched the area, looking for Marcus.  Not seeing anyone, she started to move away from the tree.  “Surely I’m in the right place.” 

“You’re in the right place,” A voice from above called out.

Rana whirled, hand on the hilt, looking upwards, searching for the owner of that voice who she found surprised her.  The person appeared to be a young teine girl just on the cusp of maturity.  She had a lithe body, beautifully curved in all the right places, and her green eyes peered out from under a mane of fiery red hair that was gathered at her shoulders.  “You’re noisy.”  The girl said as she took a step and dropped to the ground, landing easily on her feet and falling into a low crouch before rising to stare at Rana. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be noisy.”  What am I apologizing for?  Rana wondered as she took a step back and examined the girl’s clothing.  She was wearing a dark green blouse, a brown skirt that fell to mid-thigh, and a pair of black leggings that covered her lower legs. 

“You can’t help it,” The girl said as she circled Rana on leather boots.  “You were almost late, and Father will want to know why.” 

“Father?” Rana, still trying to recover her wits, shook her head.  “I was supposed to meet Maighstir Marcus.  I am in the right place, yes?” 

“You are.  I’m Angelica. Marcus is my father.”  The girl introduced herself, gazing at Rana.  “What’s your name?” 

“Um... Rana.  My name is Rana,” Great, now she’s going to think you’re dumb.  Rana cursed herself.  “Maighstir Rhyslin said you were about to undergo your trials.”  She blinked.  “How old are you?” 

Angelica grinned.  “I’m sixteen.”  She looked at what Rana was wearing and nodded.  “At least you dressed right.”  Then she took off down the hill.  “Come on, follow me.” 

Rana fell into an easy lope behind Angelica, marveling at how easy the redhead made it look as she danced through the trees.  Maighstir Rhyslin was right. She’s good.  Then, without realizing it, she wondered, could we be friends?

By the time they arrived at the shack, Rana was just getting warmed up, and Angelica seemed to have an abundance of energy.  On the way down the hill, she had showered Rana with every question she could think of, and it didn’t seem to drain her energy. 

My Goddess, she’s so energetic, Rana thought, and just when she thought Angelica would slow down, the girl knocked on the cabin door.  “Daddy, I found her.  She was at the top of the hill under the black willow.”  She started excitedly.  “And she was noisy.” 

“Very well, Sweetling. Go find me a silver-haired sionnaich[1], follow it to its den, and then draw me a map to the location, complete with distance, height, and water notations.” 

The redhead smiled broadly, her green eyes flashing in joy.  “Yes, Father.  I’ll be back when I’ve found it.”  She rolled her eyes and endured it when Marcus ruffled her hair.  “If you get a chance, you can join me, Rana.”  Angelica breathlessly stated, giving Rana a big hug.  “See ya later,” she said before running into the forest behind the shack.

Marcus watched his daughter disappear into the forest and then turned to Rana.  “You were almost late.” 

“I know, Maighstir Marcus, but Maighstir Rhyslin had an unexpected guest.”  Rana softly stated.  She was about to apologize when Marcus stopped her.  “Unexpected guest?” 

Rana nodded. A silver gate appeared in his backyard, and when it opened, a pair of dryads danced out and knelt at his feet, then two ciad-fhir showed up to Guard the gate.”

“Why would two ciad-fhir be guarding a gate?” 

“Because they were guarding A’ Mathair.  Lady Astinmah brought Momma back from Comraich uisge na gealaich.” She started, took a breath, and continued, “The ciad-fhir are powerful. I had no choice but to kneel, and I couldn’t get to my feet.” 

“Did A’ Mathair say why she was being escorted?”

Rana shrugged, “When momma took Makar inside, I took my chance and got away from the ciad-fhir, then came straight here.”

Oh well, she didn’t know to wait and report.  That’ll be one of the first things I teach her. Marcus thought as he watched her.  “It’s okay, I’ll ask Rhyslin about it later.”  He gave her a comforting smile.  “Are you ready to get to work?” 

Sensing that Marcus wasn’t disappointed in her, Rana nodded.  “Yes, maighstir Marcus, I’m ready.”

“Good,” Marcus crossed his arms over his chest.  “We’ll start with seeing how your swordsmanship is. Then we’ll move to archery and finally to wilderness survival and tracking.” 

Rana nodded, coming to attention, with her back leg slightly behind her front leg, with her feet shoulder-width apart.  Her right hand rested gently on the hilt of her sword, her eyes never leaving Marcus’ face.

“Maighstir Rhyslin is having me train with Rembran.”  She offered. 

“How did your first lesson go?”

She winced, “I lost, but barely.”  She bit her lower lip.  “Like Rhyslin, he cheated, but I expected that.”

Marcus nodded and offered Rhyslin’s adage, “Life on the battlefield is rarely fair.”  When she rolled her eyes, he chuckled.  “Heard that one already, have you?”  When she nodded, he winked, “Who do you think taught it to Rhyslin?” 

Rana kept what she was thinking to herself.  If Rhyslin is so old, and Marcus is older yet, how does anyone ever stand a chance against them?  Instead, what she said was. “I didn’t know, Maighstir.”  She settled back a moment.  “Have you always ‘cheated’ to win?”  She wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t for the ranger to laugh.

“Life is only fair if you’ve settled on the rules ahead of time,” Marcus commented.  “Otherwise, you fight with what you bring to the battlefield.  Some fight with every weapon on the field, some fight only using bows, some only use swords, and some only use magic.  Some, like Rembran, use both swords, shields, and magic.  Some, like Rhysiln, use the very world against you.”  He paused and looked at Rana, “And don’t get me started on nan Diathan.  They bring entire worlds and stars with them.” 

“How do people survive battle like that?”  She inquired.

“By hiding until it’s over,” Marcus stated with a tone of finality. 

“So, what should I bring to the battlefield?”  Despite her dismay, Rana was curious as to what Marcus thought.

“Whatever you think you can use to stay alive,” he frankly answered. 

Rana nodded and resumed her ready stance.  “What would you like me to do, Maighstir?”

Marcus leaned back against the wall of the shack.  “Run through your sword drill.  I’ll watch and correct any flaws.”

Rana nodded and wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her sword.  Without conscious thought, she drew the sword in ‘whispering breeze,’ which arced upwards in ‘rising dust devil’ to halt at shoulder level, at which point, she took a half step forward and ‘rising dust devil’ became ‘iron glove’ with the blade extending straight up, the hilt in front of her face.  She held it for the barest of seconds, and ‘iron glove’ became ‘lightning strike’ descending in a slash from above.  She turned the blade at the end of the strike, and ‘catch-claw’ was attained, with the blade held point down in front of her right foot. 

As Marcus watched, ‘catch-claw’ became ‘snake bite,’ and the blade shot upwards where it would have caught an unsuspecting opponent on the inside of the thigh.  Now, what’s her next move going to be?  He wondered.  He didn’t have to wonder for long because, after the snake bite, Rana took a half-step back, drawing the turned blade deeper into the tissue of her opponent’s knee.  She turned in place, one knee bent, with the hilt draped over her right shoulder with the blade down her back in ‘snake skin.’  It only took her a short stride, and she was clear of her opponent. She turned, sliding her blade back into the sheath.

“Very good,” Marcus congratulated her on her performance.  “Eriand Silver-blade taught you well.”  He said, earning a half-smile from the young woman.  “Now, let’s see what you can do against me,” he said, drawing his sword.  In an instant, ‘raven's wing met ‘short guard’ as she held the sword point up from her waist, and she allowed his sword to shed from hers as she dipped to the right.  ‘Parting the reeds’ came in from the right side of her waist and was caught by ‘falling rain’ as his blade danced down to deflect her slash.  His sword hooked hers and pushed it out wide to the left, then reversed in his ‘thresh the field’ driving back into her undefended center. 

His slash came up empty as she dived to the right, half-rolled, and came up in a descending ‘window’ with the hilt at head level and the blade pointing down. 

“You almost got me,” she said after taking a deep breath.  ‘Descending window’ became ‘lightning strike,’ causing Marcus to take a step back and reassess her stance. 

“Nice move,” he admitted.  “That’s new.”  He took another quick step back as ‘lightning strike’ turned to ‘splitting the sheave.’  The edge of his cloak caught the tip of her sword, drawing her in as he pivoted to the right and disappeared. 

Rana grumbled at his accidental use of magic, and even though she thought she could feel him at the tip of her sword, he seemed to be gone.  If he wants to use magic, I have no problem doing the same.  She thought as she traced a sigil with her right toe.  “Bris an solas gu dathan, nochd am fear falaichte.” Her sword rose to ‘spear the wind’ as the light reflected off of the blade, and the rainbow hues followed her pirouette. 

Marcus blinked as his cloak attempted to shift to every color in response to her spell.  What the ifrinn is that?  Neither Rhyslin nor Rembran ever used that one. 

A slow smile crossed her lips as Rana saw his silhouette under the cloaks shifting.  On cat’s paws, she silently approached from his left side and drove into ‘splitting the sheave’ again. 

He quickly brought his blade into a guard position, shedding her blade in a deflection.  I’ve got to end this. He thought but was again surprised when she toed up a rock and sent it flying right toward his face.  “Briseadh agus fras,” The stone shattered, becoming multiple shards.

Marcus grunted as he tried to roll back and found himself against the trunk of a tree.  Instead of trying to block the shards with his bracers, he gathered his strength and jumped straight up, catching hold of the bottom limb before pulling himself up onto it.  The numerous dings on his chest and abdomen revealed that he was only partially successful in avoiding the flying rocks.  Seeing her below him, with her sword raised high, he could only imagine the spell she was about to send his way, and rather than chance that, he took off running the length of the branch.  Reaching the end, he leaped to the next one and tried to stay out of Rana’s eyesight. 

A lightning bolt hit the branch he had jumped from, shattering it and sending the remnants falling to the forest floor below.  Oh no, you don’t.  He thought as he circled the trunk.  I have to distract her.  And then he had it.  On the ground behind Rana, there was a coiled vine rope that he had cut from around an oak tree.  This time, he traced a sigil on the tree trunk and felt it as his spell wended down the trunk, across the ground, and into the vine.  It was his turn to smile as the vine snaked along the ground, silently gathering behind the spellblade before crawling up her like a great constrictor, trapping her sword close to her chest.

It’s not fair! Rana mentally screamed as the vine encircled her, trapping her arms tight against her chest and then tightening around her legs, pulling them together and forcing her to her knees.  I almost had him.  She stewed, realizing that she could never beat a man in a fair fight, even if she had him trapped in a tree. 

“I yield,” she coughed, the vine making it hard to yell. 

“If it’s any consolation,” the ranger said as he jumped from the tree and approached her, “You almost had me.  One more weather strike, and I would have been on the ground.”

She could only nod as the vine tightened down a bit more, making it almost impossible to breathe. 

“That’s enough of that,” Marcus commented, tapping the vine.  “Let her go.” 

Rana sensed a grumbling acceptance as the vine loosened and gathered at Marcus’ feet in a coil.  “Is it alive?”  She inquired, finally able to breathe.

“In a way,” Marcus commented, “I didn’t cut it when I removed it from the oak tree. It was trying to suffocate.  It still has that drive to climb and constrict.” 

Rana blinked.  “That’s amazing.” 

Marcus gave her a funny look, “You’re not going to complain about it not being far?” 

Rana sighed, “No, I’ve come to realize that I’ll never be able to beat a man in any kind of fight.”  She seemed resigned to that fate.  “I want to learn how to survive, escape, and run away.”  She stated.  “The only way I’ll ever be able to win is to be sneaky.”

Marcus watched as she got to one knee and sheathed her sword.  “I can teach you that.  It’s what I’ve been teaching Angelica.” 

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[1] Fox